Integrating and managing social networking information in an on-demand database system

ABSTRACT

Some embodiments comprise integrating information from a social network into a multi-tenant database system. A plurality of information from the social network is retrieved, using a processor and a network interface of a server computer in the multi-tenant database system, wherein the plurality of information is associated with a message transmitted using the social network. Metadata related to the transmitted message is generated, using the processor. A conversation object is generated, using the processor, based on the plurality of information associated with the transmitted message and the metadata related to the transmitted message. The conversation object is then stored in an entity in the multi-tenant database system, using the processor of the server computer.

PRIORITY DATA

This application is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No.14/145,870, filed on Dec. 31, 2013, entitled “INTEGRATING AND MANAGINGSOCIAL NETWORKING INFORMATION IN AN ON-DEMAND DATABASE SYSTEM”, which isa continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 12/917,326, filed on Nov. 1,2010, entitled “INTEGRATING AND MANAGING SOCIAL NETWORKING INFORMATIONIN AN ON-DEMAND DATABASE SYSTEM”, which is a Non-Provisional of andclaims the benefit under 35 USC §119(e) of U.S. Provisional ApplicationNo. 61/256,861, entitled “SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR INTEGRATING ANDMANAGING SOCIAL NETWORKING INFORMATION IN AN ON-DEMAND DATABASE SYSTEM,”filed on Oct. 30, 2009 by Chet Chauhan, the content of which isincorporated herein by reference in its entirety and for all purposes.

BACKGROUND

Social networks, such as twitter®, Facebook®, and Yammer® have grown inpopularity not only for casual social purposes, but also forwork-related purposes. Users of social networks post messages related toa company's products and/or services containing information that couldbe useful to understand customers, track market developments, managepublic relations, and address issues related to the company's productsand/or services, employees, or the company itself.

SUMMARY

The implementations disclosed herein relate generally to databasesystems and more particularly to integration of information from socialnetworks into multi-tenant database systems (“MTS”). Embodiments of theimplementations are particularly useful for integrating information fromsocial networks such as twitter.com, yammer.com, and other similarservices. The implementations described herein provide methods andsystems for integrating information harvested from social networks(e.g., posted messages) into a MTS. Various embodiments provide methodsand systems for enabling customer support representatives to managesocial networks like any other support channel. Various embodimentsprovide methods and systems for enabling multiple agents to pull,filter, process, search through, and take action based on such harvestedinformation. Various embodiments provide methods and systems for usingtemplates for such harvested information and storing harvestedinformation in a knowledge base to increase productivity.

Some embodiments comprise integrating information from a social networkinto a multi-tenant database system. A plurality of information from thesocial network is retrieved, using a processor and a network interfaceof a server computer in the multi-tenant database system, wherein theplurality of information is associated with a message transmitted usingthe social network. Metadata related to the transmitted message isgenerated, using the processor. A conversation object is generated,using the processor, based on the plurality of information associatedwith the transmitted message and the metadata related to the transmittedmessage. The conversation object is then stored in an entity in themulti-tenant database system, using the processor of the servercomputer.

Some embodiments comprise a non-transitory computer-readable mediumtangibly encoded with instructions for performing the above-describedoperations and variations thereof.

Some embodiments comprise a system comprising a processor, a networkinterface, and a non-transitory computer-readable medium tangiblyencoded with instructions for performing the above-described operationsand variations thereof.

Reference to the remaining portions of the specification, including thedrawings and claims, will realize other features and advantages of theimplementations. Further features and advantages of the implementations,as well as the structure and operation of various embodiments, aredescribed in detail below with respect to the accompanying drawings. Inthe drawings, like reference numbers indicate identical or functionallysimilar elements.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a schematic illustrating an environment including a MTS.

FIG. 2 is a schematic illustrating elements of a MTS andinterconnections therein in an embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a schematic illustrating an example of objects represented asa main table in an embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a schematic illustrating an example system for integrating andmanaging social networking information in a MTS in an embodiment.

FIG. 5 illustrates an example process flow for an integration with thetwitter social network.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The implementations described herein provide methods and systems forintegrating information harvested from social networks (e.g., postedmessages) into a MTS. Customer support representatives are able tomanage social networks like any other support channel. Multiple agentscan pull, filter, process, search through, and take action based on suchharvested information. Templates can be used to characterize harvestedinformation and store it into standard object types. Harvestedinformation can be stored in a knowledge base to increase productivity.

Definitions

Each database can generally be viewed as a collection of objects, suchas a set of logical tables, containing data fitted into predefinedcategories. A table, one representation of a data object, is used hereinto simplify the conceptual description of objects and custom objects inthe present disclosure. It should be understood that the terms table,object and entity may be used interchangeably herein. Each tablegenerally contains one or more data categories logically arranged ascolumns or fields in a viewable schema. Each row or record of a tablecontains an instance of data for each category defined by the fields.For example, a CRM database may include a table that describes acustomer with fields for basic contact information such as name,address, phone number, fax number, etc. Another table might describe apurchase order, including fields for information such as customer,product, sale price, date, etc.

As used herein, the term multi-tenant database system (“MTS”) refers tothose systems in which various elements of hardware and software of thedatabase system may be shared between one or more customers. Forexample, a given application server may simultaneously process requestsfor a great number of customers, and a given database table may storerows for a potentially much greater number of customers. In some MTSembodiments, standard entity tables might be provided. For CRM databaseapplications, such standard entities might include tables for relevantdata, such as Account, Contact, Lead and Opportunity, each containingpredefined fields.

As used herein, the term social network or social networking site refersto any multiuser online system that enables its users to create andpreserve connections, communicate by posting broadcast or privatemessages, and share information with other users of the online system.Examples of social networks include twitter, Facebook, and Yammer.

As used herein, the term message includes any message posted on a socialnetwork, including but not limited to status updates, private messagessent to one or more users of the social network, or public messages forbroadcast to everyone or to a subgroup of users.

Multi-Tenant Database System (MTS) Overview

FIG. 1 illustrates an environment wherein a MTS might be used. Asillustrated in FIG. 1 (and in more detail in FIG. 2) any user systems 12might interact via a network 14 with a MTS 16. The users of those usersystems 12 might be users in differing capacities and the capacity of aparticular user system 12 might be entirely determined by the currentuser. For example, when a salesperson is using a particular user system12 to interact with MTS 16, that user system has the capacities allottedto that salesperson. However, while an administrator is using that usersystem to interact with MTS 16, that user system has the capacitiesallotted to that administrator. Network 14 can be a local area network(“LAN”), wide area network (“WAN”), wireless network, point-to-pointnetwork, star network, token ring network, hub network, or otherconfiguration. As the most common type of network in current use is aTransfer Control Protocol and Internet Protocol (“TCP/IP”) network suchas the global internetwork of networks often referred to as the“Internet” with a capital “I,” that will be used in many of the examplesherein, but it should be understood that the networks that the systemmight use are not so limited, although TCP/IP is the currently preferredprotocol.

User systems 12 might communicate with MTS 16 using TCP/IP and, at ahigher network level, use other common Internet protocols tocommunicate, such as Hypertext Transfer Protocol (“HTTP”), file transferprotocol (“FTP”), Andrew File System (“AFS”), wireless applicationprotocol (“WAP”), etc. As an example, where HTTP is used, user system 12might include a HTTP client commonly referred to as a “browser” forsending and receiving HTTP messages from a HTTP server at MTS 16. Such aHTTP server might be implemented as the sole network interface betweenMTS 16 and network 14, but other techniques might be used as well orinstead. In some embodiments, the interface between MTS 16 and network14 includes load-balancing functionality, such as round-robin HTTPrequest distributors to balance loads and distribute incoming HTTPrequests evenly over a plurality of HTTP servers. Preferably, each ofthe plurality of HTTP servers has access to the MTS's data, at least asfor the users that are accessing that server.

In aspects, the system shown in FIG. 1 implements a web-based customerrelationship management (“CRM”) system. For example, in one aspect, MTS16 can include application servers configured to implement and executeCRM software applications as well as provide related data, program code,forms, web pages and other information to and from user systems 12 andto store to, and retrieve from, a database system related data, objectsand web page content. With a MTS, tenant data is preferably arranged sothat data of one tenant is kept separate from that of other tenants sothat one tenant does not have access to another's data, unless such datais expressly shared.

One arrangement for elements of MTS 16 is shown in FIG. 1, including anetwork interface 20, storage 22 for tenant data, storage 24 for systemdata accessible to MTS 16 and possibly multiple tenants, program code 26for implementing various functions of MTS 16, and a process space 28 forexecuting MTS system processes and tenant-specific processes, such asrunning applications as part of an application service.

Some elements in the system shown in FIG. 1 include conventional,well-known elements that need not be explained in detail here. Forexample, each user system 12 could include a desktop personal computer,workstation, laptop, personal digital assistant (“PDA”), cell phone, orany WAP-enabled device or any other computing device capable ofinterfacing directly or indirectly to the Internet or other networkconnection. User system 12 typically runs a HTTP client, e.g., abrowsing program, such as Microsoft's Internet Explorer® browser,Mozilla's Firefox® browser, Netscape's Navigator® browser, Apple'sSafari® browser, the Opera© browser, or a WAP-enabled browser in thecase of a cell phone, PDA, or other wireless device, or the like,allowing a user (e.g., subscriber of a CRM system) of user system 12 toaccess, process and view information and pages available to it from MTS16 over network 14. Each user system 12 also typically includes one ormore user interface devices, such as a keyboard, a mouse, touch screen,pen or the like, for interacting with a graphical user interface (“GUI”)provided by the browser on a display (e.g., monitor screen, LCD display,etc.) in conjunction with pages, forms and other information provided byMTS 16 or other systems or servers. As discussed above, the system issuitable for use with the Internet, which refers to a specific globalinternetwork of networks. However, it should be understood that othernetworks can be used instead of the Internet, such as an intranet, anextranet, a virtual private network (“VPN”), a non-TCP/IP-based network,any LAN or WAN or the like.

According to one embodiment, each user system 12 and all of itscomponents are operator configurable using applications, such as abrowser, including program code run using a central processing unit suchas an Intel Pentium® processor or the like. Similarly, MTS 16 (andadditional instances of MTS's, where more than one is present) and allof their components might be operator configurable using application(s)including program code run using a central processing unit such as anIntel Pentium processor or the like, or multiple processor units.Program code for operating and configuring MTS 16 to intercommunicateand to process web pages and other data and media content as describedherein is preferably downloaded and stored on a hard disk, but theentire program code, or portions thereof, may also be stored in anyother volatile or non-volatile memory medium or device as is well known,such as a ROM or RAM, or provided on any media capable of storingprogram code, such as a compact disk (“CD”) medium, digital versatiledisk (“DVD”) medium, a floppy disk, and the like. Additionally, theentire program code, or portions thereof, may be transmitted anddownloaded from a software source, e.g., over the Internet, or fromanother server, as is well known, or transmitted over any otherconventional network connection as is well known (e.g., extranet, VPN,LAN, etc.) using any communication medium and protocols (e.g., TCP/IP,HTTP, HTTPS, WAP, Ethernet, etc.) as are well known. It will also beappreciated that program code for implementing aspects of the system canbe implemented in any programming language that can be executed on aserver or server system such as, for example, in C, C++, HTML, Java,JavaScript, WML, any other scripting language, such as VBScript and manyother programming languages as are well known.

It should also be understood that each user system 12 may includediffering elements, for example, one user system 12 might include auser's personal workstation running Microsoft's Internet Explorerbrowser while connected to MTS 16 by VPN, another user system 12 mightinclude a thin-client netbook (e.g., Asus Eee PC®) running the Operabrowser while connected to MTS 16 through an extranet, and another usersystem 12 might include a PDA running a WAP-enabled browser whileconnected to MTS 16 over third-party cellular networks.

According to one embodiment, each MTS 16 is configured to provide webpages, forms, data and media content to user systems 12 to support theaccess by user systems 12 as tenants of MTS 16. As such, MTS 16 providessecurity mechanisms to keep each tenant's data separate unless the datais shared. If more than one MTS 16 is used, they may be located in closeproximity to one another (e.g., in a server farm located in a singlebuilding or campus), or they may be distributed at locations remote fromone another (e.g., one or more servers located in city A and one or moreservers located in city B). Each MTS 16 may include one or morelogically and/or physically connected servers distributed locally oracross one or more geographic locations. Additionally, the term “server”is meant to include a computer system, including processing hardware andprocess space(s), and an associated storage system and databaseapplication (e.g., relational database management system (“RDBMS”)), asis well known in the art. It should also be understood that “serversystem” and “server” are often used interchangeably herein. Similarly,the databases described herein can be implemented as single databases, adistributed database, a collection of distributed databases, a databasewith redundant online or offline backups or other redundancies, etc.,and might include a distributed database or storage network andassociated processing intelligence.

FIG. 2 illustrates elements of MTS 16 and various interconnections in anexemplary embodiment. In this example, the network interface isimplemented as one or more HTTP application servers 100. Also shown issystem process space 102 including individual tenant process space(s)104, a system database 106, tenant database(s) 108, and a tenantmanagement process space 110. Tenant database 108 might be divided intoindividual tenant storage areas 112, which can be either a physicalarrangement or a logical arrangement. Within each tenant storage area112, a user storage 114 might similarly be allocated for each user.

It should also be understood that each application server 100 may becommunicably coupled to database systems, e.g., system database 106 andtenant database(s) 108, via a different network connection. For example,one application server 100 ₁ might be coupled via the Internet 14,another application server 100 _(N−1) might be coupled via a directnetwork link, and another application server 100 _(N) might be coupledby yet a different network connection. TCP/IP is the currently preferredprotocol for communicating between application servers 100 and thedatabase system, however, it will be apparent to one skilled in the artthat other transport protocols may be used to optimize the systemdepending on the network interconnect used.

In aspects, each application server 100 is configured to handle requestsfor any user/organization. Because it is desirable to be able to add andremove application servers from the server pool at any time for anyreason, there is preferably no server affinity for a user and/ororganization to a specific application server 100. In one embodiment,therefore, an interface system (not shown) implementing a load-balancingfunction (e.g., an F5 Big-IP load balancer) is communicably coupledbetween the application servers 100 and the user systems 30 todistribute requests to the application servers 100. In one aspect, theload balancer uses a least connections algorithm to route user requeststo the application servers 100. Other examples of load balancingalgorithms, such as round robin and observed response time, also can beused. For example, in certain aspects, three consecutive requests fromthe same user could hit three different servers, and three requests fromdifferent users could hit the same server. In this manner, MTS 16 ismulti-tenant, wherein MTS 16 handles storage of different objects anddata across disparate users and organizations.

As an example of storage, one tenant might be a company that employs asales force where each user (e.g., a salesperson) uses MTS 16 to managetheir sales process. Thus, a user might maintain contact data, leadsdata, customer follow-up data, performance data, goals and progressdata, etc., all applicable to that user's personal sales process (e.g.,in tenant database 108). In one MTS arrangement, since all of this dataand the applications to access, view, modify, report, transmit,calculate, etc., can be maintained and accessed by a user system havingnothing more than network access, the user can manage his or her salesefforts and cycles from any of many different user systems. For example,if a salesperson is visiting a customer and the customer has Internetaccess in their lobby, the salesperson can obtain critical updates as tothat customer while waiting for the customer to arrive in the lobby.

While each user's sales data might be separate from other users' salesdata regardless of the employers of each user, some data might beorganization-wide data shared or accessible by a plurality of users orall of the sales force for a given organization that is a tenant. Thus,there might be some data structures managed by MTS 16 that are allocatedat the tenant level while other data structures might be managed at theuser level. Because an MTS might support multiple tenants includingpossible competitors, the MTS, in one implementation, has securityprotocols that keep data, applications, and application use separate.Also, because many tenants will opt for access to an MTS rather thanmaintain their own system, redundancy, up-time and backup are morecritical functions and need to be implemented in the MTS.

In addition to user-specific data and tenant-specific data, MTS 16 mightalso maintain system-level data usable by multiple tenants or otherdata. Such system-level data might include industry reports, news,postings, and the like that are sharable among tenants.

In certain aspects, user systems 30 communicate with application servers100 to request and update system-level and tenant-level data from MTS16; this may require one or more queries to system database 106 and/ortenant database 108. MTS 16 (e.g., an application server 100 in MTS 16)automatically generates one or more SQL statements (a SQL query)designed to access the desired information.

FIG. 3 illustrates an example of an object represented as a main table200 that holds data items for multiple tenants. In the particularexample shown in FIG. 3, the main table 200 (.account) represents astandard Account entity that holds account information for multipleorganizations. As shown, main table 200 includes an organization IDcolumn 201 and an account ID column 202 that acts as the primary key formain table 200. For example, for organization #1, column 201 shows thatOrg ID=“ood 1,” and two account IDs are listed (“ood 1” and “ood 2”).Main table 200 also includes a plurality of data columns 203 containingother information about each row. For example, for account ID “ood1,”information is stored about the account name (i.e., “Enterprise”). Maintable 200 may also include column 209 that stores the user ID of theuser that owns or created the specific account that is stored in thatrow.

The organization ID column 201 is provided to distinguish amongorganizations using the MTS. As shown, N different organizations havedata stored in main table 200. In an exemplary embodiment, theorganization IDs in column 201 are defined as Char(15), but may bedefined as other data types. In one embodiment, the first 3 charactersof the organization ID is set to a predefined prefix, such as “ood”,although another subset of characters in the organization ID may be usedto hold such a prefix if desired.

In the particular example of FIG. 3, where the table represents astandard entity, data columns 203 are predefined data columns, orstandard fields, that are provided to the various organizations thatmight use the table. In the Account entity example described above, suchstandard fields might include a name column, a site column, a number ofemployees column and others as would be useful for storingaccount-related information. Each of the data columns 203 is preferablydefined to store a single data type per column.

Integration Environment

FIG. 4 illustrates a MTS environment for integrating and managinginformation pulled from a social network, such as twitter, Facebook, orYammer. As illustrated in FIG. 4, social network 30 is accessible by MTS16 via a network 14. The members 40 of social network 30 also accesssocial network 30 via network 14. Social network 30 is able to receive amessage from a first member 40 that is then transmitted to one or moremembers 40 of social network 30. Messages may be stored in a data store34. An interface 32 may be provided in order to provide a user interfacefor members 40. Interface 32 may also provide an API through which MTS16 is able to retrieve the messages in data store 34 and transmit bothnew messages and message replies through the social network 30. Members40 may be able to access social network 30 using any conventionalInternet-connected device, including but not limited to a personalcomputer, a cellphone, a portable computing device, etc.

In an example embodiment, social network 30 is the twitter socialnetwork. A member 40 of twitter can broadcast a message (i.e., tweet) toall members of the twitter social network who are following tweets bythe member 40. A member 40 of twitter can also send a targeted messageto a single, identified member of twitter, or to a group of members.

In an example embodiment, the MTS periodically polls the social networkfor new transmissions of messages and pulls information related to eachnewly transmitted message; this information is stored in the MTS in theform of a Conversation object. In an example embodiment wherein socialnetwork 30 is twitter, the MTS polls twitter's search API on a regularbasis and stores all search results as twitter Conversation objects.Each twitter Conversation object is stored as a record in an entity ofthe MTS. An exemplary embodiment of a Conversation object for twitter isdescribed in the table below.

Example Embodiment of a Conversation Object for Twitter

Field Data Type Description Twitter Conversation Id Auto Number The RowId where the Conversation object is stored in an entity of the MTS.Twitter Id Text (100) (External Id) The Id of the message on twitter -pulled back via the API. Content Text [140] The actual contents of themessage (e.g., RT @EBF2010 European Banking Forum event looking at howto drive revenue; customer solutions, operational efficiency, and riskmanagement). For twitter, this field may be limited to 140 characters.Published Date Date Time The date and time the message was originallytweeted on twitter. Author Name Text (255) The text name of the personthat sent the message. Twitter Profile URL (255) A URL to the author'stwitter profile. Type Picklist The source of the message, e.g., @reply,direct message, and Search. Status Picklist The status or disposition ofthe conversation. As users process each conversation, they willdisposition the conversation as to what happened. Values include: noaction, ignore, case created, promoted to knowledge, solved bycommunity, promoted to lead, etc. Avatar Icon Text field with URL toShows the user's image on twitter. the avatar image The icon may beresized to a fixed standard size so that it fits nicely in a List Viewor related list. Typically this field will be displayed next to theuser's name. Case Id Lookup This is a foreign key to the Case that isfilled in for any twitter conversation that is promoted to a Case.Contact Id Lookup This is a foreign key to the Contact object. If themessage is linked to an existing contact with a twitter username, thisfield should be set to the contact the message was associated with. LeadId Lookup If the message is “promoted” into a lead, this should specifythe field Leadld that the message was converted into. Solution Id LookupA foreign key for the solution for any message that is promoted to asolution. Twitter Search Setup Id Lookup A foreign key to the twittersearch setup record that created this twitter Conversation Object OwnerLookup to User or The person(s) or queue that is Group assigned to lookat this twitter conversation; this may be specified in the twittersearch setup where you specify the owner for the results. Campaign IdLookup Link to Campaign record In Reply to Status Id Text (255) Hiddenfield used to keep track of twitter threads In Reply to Use Id Text(255) Hidden field used to keep track of twitter threads SolutionCreated Hyperlink formula field Icon to show that a solution is attachedto this twitter conversation Case Created Hyperlink formula field Iconto show that a case is attached to this twitter conversation LeadCreated Hyperlink formula field Icon to show that a lead is attached tothis twitter conversation

Integrating Information From A Social Network Into A MTS

FIG. 5 illustrates an example process flow 500 for one embodiment of anintegration with the twitter social network A message (i.e., tweet) istransmitted via the twitter social network, so when the MTS pollstwitter's search API, the newly transmitted message is detected (505).In one embodiment, a user can define message filters to refine thesearch results.

If the message is a response to an earlier outbound message related toan existing case (510), then the user may create a Conversation objectin the MTS and associate it with the existing case (515). The user canthen create a case comment using the message text (520), and the casecan be closed if it is appropriate to do so (525).

If the message is not a response to an earlier outbound message relatedto an existing case (510), then the user may create a new Conversationobject (530) in the MTS. The MTS may then search through existingcontacts and/or leads to see if the message was sent by an existingcontact (535). If so, the MTS may associate the Conversation object withthe existing contact (540). In one embodiment, if more than one existingcontact and/or lead appears in the search results, then one of thefollowing actions may be taken: (1) no association will be created, or(2) associations are created with all existing contacts and/or leadsappearing in the search results, or (3) an association will be createdwith the most recent contact or lead. If the message was not sent by anexisting contact (535), the MTS may create a new Contact or Lead andassociate it with the Conversation object (545). In one embodiment, theContact or Lead object includes a custom field to store the twitterusername for the new contact.

If the message is a search tweet (i.e., a publicly broadcast statusupdate), the MTS may retrieve the prior conversation, if any (550). Ifthe message is an @username tweet (i.e., a publicly accessible targetedmessage) or direct message tweet (i.e., a private message), the user maybe able to determine that the content of the message warrants creationof a new case and create a new case (555) and search the knowledge base(560) to see if there is an existing solution or any furtherinformation. If there is, then the user may be able to respond to themessage to communicate the solution or further information (565)—the MTSmay post the response to the twitter API (570).

In one embodiment, the user may be able to view a plurality of messagesin a list view, select particular messages, and take actions upon theselected messages in the list (575). The user may be able to escalate aselected message to a case and create a new case (555). The user may beable to use the selected message to create a new knowledge base article(580). The user may be able to use the selected message to create a newlead (585). Or, the user may be able to choose to ignore the selectedmessage and mark it for deletion (590). In one embodiment, the user maybe able to change the status of the selected message (e.g., “solved bycommunity”) or change other metadata related to the selected message.

In one embodiment, when a new Conversation object is created based on atransmitted message, metadata related to the transmitted message isgenerated and stored along with the Conversation object in the MTS. Inone embodiment, when a new Conversation object is created, it can becategorized in accordance with any of a number of aspects, including butnot limited to the message content, the author of the message, therecipient of the message, the date and/or time of the message, the caseor lead or knowledge base article with which the message is associated,etc.

In one embodiment, messages from certain users (e.g., usernamesbelonging to MTS system administrators) may be filtered out in thesearch results.

User Interface

In one embodiment, the search for newly transmitted messages may betriggered manually. In one embodiment, the search for newly transmittedmessages may be run automatically, possibly on a periodic basis. In oneembodiment, the user can enable auto-creation of cases, leads, and/orcontact

In one embodiment, outbound messages destined for the social network canbe generated from several locations in the user interface—when the useris viewing a case, a Conversation object, a contact, and/or a lead. Inone embodiment, the user interface allows creation of an outboundmessage from within the MTS user interface. In one embodiment, the userinterface allows creation of an outbound message directly from thesocial network's user interface.

In one embodiment, once an action has been taken on a message (e.g.,create case, create lead, ignore), the user interface indicates that anaction has been taken on the message; in one embodiment, the userinterface indicates the exact disposition of the message.

In one embodiment, reports can be generated to determine variousstatistics, which may include: how many messages were pulled in by thesearch, how many messages were reviewed, how many messages were promotedto cases or leads or knowledge base articles, how many messages wereignored, and how many messages are left to be dealt with.

Setup and Administration

In one embodiment, a Search object is created in order to define varioussearch terms for use when searching for messages in the social network.In one embodiment, multiple instances of Search objects may be created.Each search instance may have an associated owner (either username orqueue). All conversations that are pulled in as a result of the Searchobject may be assigned to the owner associated with the search object.For example, conversations pulled in using the search terms “comcastissue” +“comcast problem” are assigned to the owner “twitter service.”In another example, conversations pulled in using the search terms“Verizon offer”+“which cable company” are assigned to the owner “twittersales.”

Example Embodiment of a Search Object for Twitter Integration

Twitter Search TermId AutoNumber The Row Id for the twitter search insalesforce. Twitter Keyword Search Text Area (255) The Twitter searchterm Owner Lookup Lookup to User/Queue. All incoming twitterconversations from this search will be assigned to this queue. Unknowntwitter Picklist [Do nothing, If “Create Contact”, Contacts willusernames Create Contact, Create automatically be created for unknownLead] twitter users associated with Conversations. If “Create Lead”,Leads will automatically be created for unknown twitter users associatedwith Twitter Conversations. If Do nothing”, no object is created forunknown twitter users associated with Twitter Conversations. If thetwitter user exists as a known contact then it should not create acontact or lead Lead Association Picklist Options: Setting Twitter MaxTwitter ID Text (255) Hidden field Twitter Max Message Text (255) Hiddenfield ID Twitter Max Search Id Text (255) Hidden field Twitter AccountID Text (255) Hidden field Last Run Status Picklist Hidden field ErrorMsg TextArea (255) Hidden field Next API Reset Time Date/Time Hiddenfield Twitter Max In Progress Text (255) Hidden field Id

In one embodiment, an Account object is created in order to enablesystem administrators to keep track of necessary user accountinformation, wherein the user account is related to the social network.

Example Embodiment of an Account Object for Twitter Integration

Twitter Account Id AutoNumber The Row Id for the twitter account insalesforce. Username Text (100) twitter username Password Text (50)twitter password Owner Lookup User/Queue lookup: this is the owner ofthe twitter account. It can be a user or a queue If private, then thiscan be used to control visibility to the account. Enable Auto-CaseCheckbox When checked, Cases and Contacts will Creation automatically becreated for incoming twitter replies and direct messages. Unknowntwitter Picklist [Do nothing If “Create Contact”, Contacts willautomatically usernames Create Contact, be created for unknown twitterusers associated Create Lead] with, twitter conversations. If “CreateLead”, Leads will automatically be created for unknown twitter usersassociated with Twitter Conversations. If “Do nothing”, no object iscreated for unknown twitter users associated with Twitter Conversations.If the twitter user exists as a known contact then it should not createa contact or lead Bit.1y username Text (50) Username needed to createthe shortened URL Bit.1y password Text (100) Stores the apiKEY to accessthe bit.1y API and generate the shortened URL.

While the invention has been described by way of example and in terms ofthe specific embodiments, it is to be understood that the invention isnot limited to the disclosed embodiments. To the contrary, it isintended to cover various modifications and similar arrangements aswould be apparent to those skilled in the art. Therefore, the scope ofthe appended claims should be accorded the broadest interpretation so asto encompass all such modifications and similar arrangements.

What is claimed is:
 1. A computer-implemented method of automaticallycreating new contacts or leads in a hosted Customer RelationshipManagement (CRM) system, the method comprising: receiving a message,using a processor and a network interface of a computer; automaticallysearching existing contact records and lead records in the CRM systemand determining that the message was sent by a correspondent who is notassociated with any of the existing contact records or lead records;extracting correspondent-identifying information from the receivedmessage without operator assistance; populating a new contact record orlead record with the extracted correspondent- identifying information;associating the message with the new contact record or lead record; andadding the new contact record or lead record to the CRM system.
 2. Thecomputer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the automaticallydetermining includes: searching existing contact records and leadrecords in a database system.
 3. The computer-implemented method ofclaim 1, further including prompting for a selection of records ormessages to track.
 4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1,further including receiving an article based on the message.
 5. Thecomputer-implemented method of claim 1, further including creating anobject to track the message.
 6. The computer-implemented method of claim1, further comprising updating a distribution list based on the message.7. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprisingfiltering social networks for messages.
 8. The computer-implementedmethod of claim 7, further including posting a response to at least onemessage to the social network.
 9. A non-transitory computer readablestorage medium impressed with computer program instructions toautomatically creating new contacts or leads in a hosted CustomerRelationship Management (CRM) system, the instructions, when executed ona processor, implement a method comprising: receiving a message, using aprocessor and a network interface of a computer; automatically searchingexisting contact records and lead records in the CRM system anddetermining that the message was sent by a correspondent who is notassociated with any of the existing contact records or lead records;extracting correspondent-identifying information from the receivedmessage without operator assistance; populating a new contact record orlead record with the extracted correspondent- identifying information;associating the message with the new contact record or lead record; andadding the new contact record or lead record to the CRM system.
 10. Thenon-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 9, wherein theautomatically determining includes: searching existing contact recordsand lead records in a database system.
 11. The non-transitorycomputer-readable medium of claim 9, implementing the method furtherincluding: prompting for a selection of records or messages to track.12. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 9, implementingthe method further including: receiving an article based on the message:13. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 9, implementingthe method further including: creating an object to track the message.14. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 9, implementingthe method further including: updating a distribution list based on themessage.
 15. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 9,implementing the method further including: filtering social networks formessages.
 16. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15,implementing the method further including: posting a response to atleast one message to the social network.
 17. A system for automaticallycreating new contacts or leads in a hosted Customer RelationshipManagement (CRM) system, the system comprising: one or more processors;a network interface; and a non-transitory computer-readable mediumloaded with computer instructions, when executed on the processors,implement actions comprising: receiving a message, using a processor anda network interface of a computer; automatically searching existingcontact records and lead records in the CRM system and determining thatthe message was sent by a correspondent who is not associated with anyof the existing contact records or lead records; extractingcorrespondent-identifying information from the received message withoutoperator assistance; populating a new contact record or lead record withthe extracted correspondent- identifying information; associating themessage with the new contact record or lead record; and adding the newcontact record or lead record to the CRM system.
 18. The system of claim17, wherein the automatically determining further includes: searchingexisting contact records and lead records in a database system.
 19. Thesystem of claim 17, further implementing actions comprising: promptingfor a selection of records or messages to track.
 20. The system of claim17, further implementing actions comprising: receiving an article basedon the message.
 21. The system of claim 17, further implementing actionscomprising: creating an object to track the message.
 22. The system ofclaim 17, further implementing actions comprising: updating adistribution list based on the message.
 23. The system of claim 17,further implementing actions comprising: filtering social networks formessages.
 24. The system of claim 23, further implementing actionscomprising: posting a response to at least one message to the socialnetwork.